Earlier this year, Google announced that it would be shutting down Google Hangouts for business users in October 2019. However, the company has now had a change of heart, and will keep the service running until at least June 2020.
Google is splitting the classic Hangouts service into two parts: Hangouts Chat for Slack-style messaging, and Hangouts Meet for Skype-style video conferencing.
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It seems G Suite users weren't too happy about that deadline (which was pretty tight for businesses with hundreds of employees), and Google has relented to pressure from IT teams who've complained that they need extra time to migrate all their staff to the new systems.
Google now hopes to have everyone switched over from the classic Google Hangouts by the end of 2020.
Getting personal?
Google has previously said that once all enterprise users have been switched over, non-G Suite users will get free, lightweight versions of the two new apps. It's also suggested that extra features will be available for these freebies for an optional subscription fee.
However, according to The Verge, when it announced the new deadline, Google said it had no intention of changing the non-business version of Hangouts.
“No changes will be made to the consumer version of classic Hangouts,” the company said in a support document. “We are continuing to support consumers.”
